helen wakefieldedge of the world bookshop, penzanceFor this week's Bookshop Spotlight, we caught up with bookseller Helen wakefield of the award-winning edge of the world bookshop in Penzance to talk about some of her favourite reads to recommend, plus recent author events, the joys of organic hand-selling, how social media has changed the playing field, and plenty more.Sometimes they come in asking for a book, and without even looking it up on the computer, you can say, “Yes, we have it,” walk over to the shelf, and pull it off. They’re like, “Wow, that was amazing.” Little moments like that make you feel like a super bookseller! |
|
JR: Let's start at the beginning and let’s start with the shop itself. So originally, there was a bookshop called Books Plus on the same street, run for about 20 years, is that right?
HW: Well, I think even before that, it was a bookshop. There was a bookshop on Market Jew Street on the terrace here for decades. But yeah, before it was Edge of the World, it was Books Plus for quite a long time.
JR: And then obviously, Rachael and James Howorth took it on. That was back in 2012, I think.
HW: It was 12 years this May, so yeah.
JR: But then there was a bit of an expansion in 2018 as well.
HW: Yeah, so they moved to this premises.
JR: And was it just like a few doors up?
HW: Two doors down, yeah. So the opticians two doors up used to be the bookshop, and then there were a lot of structural problems with that building and all sorts of stuff.
JR: And all the headaches that come with that.
HW: Yeah, and it was just a little bit kind of dingy. And there was an opportunity for this place, which is bigger, lighter, and has so much more potential. So they moved in, did a renovation, and yeah, the big shop.
JR: So for those who haven't been in before, can you give us a little introduction about where you are in town, about the town itself, and what you're all about?
HW: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're smack bang in the middle of Penzance. We're sort of a five-minute walk from the main bus and train station, on the main street, Market Jew Street, and we're on the terrace, which is basically the bit that's kind of raised up on Market Jew Street where all the pretty shops are. So if you're coming into town up the main street, you can't miss us because we're the big giant blue bookshop on the terrace.
Penzance has got this really lovely community vibe that you don't get in all Cornish towns. So a lot of places, popular Cornish towns like St Ives, Padstow, and Newquay, they're all really tourist-focused. And a lot of them have been really gentrified to encourage London visitors and kitted out with lots and lots of expensive properties to stay in and things like that, and driven back the local communities. But Penzance is kind of the antithesis of that. It still has a huge local community. It's got lots of greengrocers and butchers and just every kind of local commodity that you could need in a town. And I think because it's so far west as well and it's so hard to get out, it needs to be its own little kind of microcosm.
JR: You get down to single-lane roads, and life starts to slow down a bit.
HW: And for people that live in St. Just or Sennen or even further down west, this is their central hub, like, Penzance is their central hub. So it's got a really lovely community spirit and lots of businesses supporting other businesses and people supporting other people. So we've got a really wonderful local base of customers.
JR: Which is amazing, and something you need to rely on when it's not tourist season.
HW: Oh, yeah. We have customer orders all year round. Like, our customer orders cupboard behind the counter, behind the magical sliding door, is pretty much full all year round. It does thin out in the winter months and completely overflows at Christmas, but it's always full. And that is mainly because of our local following.
JR: That's a testament to the kind of shop you are. Obviously, it'll come down to your suppliers and who you use and how well-oiled that machine seems to be.
HW: We’ve got really great relationships with all of our reps, all of our publisher reps, and we've got great relationships with a lot of local producers and self-published people. Because a lot of self-published books—some work, some don't—but we find that in this shop, if it's a book about Cornwall that's really professionally produced, then it will do really well. And that just spreads out.
HW: Well, I think even before that, it was a bookshop. There was a bookshop on Market Jew Street on the terrace here for decades. But yeah, before it was Edge of the World, it was Books Plus for quite a long time.
JR: And then obviously, Rachael and James Howorth took it on. That was back in 2012, I think.
HW: It was 12 years this May, so yeah.
JR: But then there was a bit of an expansion in 2018 as well.
HW: Yeah, so they moved to this premises.
JR: And was it just like a few doors up?
HW: Two doors down, yeah. So the opticians two doors up used to be the bookshop, and then there were a lot of structural problems with that building and all sorts of stuff.
JR: And all the headaches that come with that.
HW: Yeah, and it was just a little bit kind of dingy. And there was an opportunity for this place, which is bigger, lighter, and has so much more potential. So they moved in, did a renovation, and yeah, the big shop.
JR: So for those who haven't been in before, can you give us a little introduction about where you are in town, about the town itself, and what you're all about?
HW: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're smack bang in the middle of Penzance. We're sort of a five-minute walk from the main bus and train station, on the main street, Market Jew Street, and we're on the terrace, which is basically the bit that's kind of raised up on Market Jew Street where all the pretty shops are. So if you're coming into town up the main street, you can't miss us because we're the big giant blue bookshop on the terrace.
Penzance has got this really lovely community vibe that you don't get in all Cornish towns. So a lot of places, popular Cornish towns like St Ives, Padstow, and Newquay, they're all really tourist-focused. And a lot of them have been really gentrified to encourage London visitors and kitted out with lots and lots of expensive properties to stay in and things like that, and driven back the local communities. But Penzance is kind of the antithesis of that. It still has a huge local community. It's got lots of greengrocers and butchers and just every kind of local commodity that you could need in a town. And I think because it's so far west as well and it's so hard to get out, it needs to be its own little kind of microcosm.
JR: You get down to single-lane roads, and life starts to slow down a bit.
HW: And for people that live in St. Just or Sennen or even further down west, this is their central hub, like, Penzance is their central hub. So it's got a really lovely community spirit and lots of businesses supporting other businesses and people supporting other people. So we've got a really wonderful local base of customers.
JR: Which is amazing, and something you need to rely on when it's not tourist season.
HW: Oh, yeah. We have customer orders all year round. Like, our customer orders cupboard behind the counter, behind the magical sliding door, is pretty much full all year round. It does thin out in the winter months and completely overflows at Christmas, but it's always full. And that is mainly because of our local following.
JR: That's a testament to the kind of shop you are. Obviously, it'll come down to your suppliers and who you use and how well-oiled that machine seems to be.
HW: We’ve got really great relationships with all of our reps, all of our publisher reps, and we've got great relationships with a lot of local producers and self-published people. Because a lot of self-published books—some work, some don't—but we find that in this shop, if it's a book about Cornwall that's really professionally produced, then it will do really well. And that just spreads out.
|
JR: And it's inspiring for writers to see it's not just, you know, the big five or Penguin titles that are the only books in the shop.
HW: But we like to really consciously curate our shelves, especially the local section, and have something really interesting for people that they're not necessarily going to find elsewhere. So that's really nice as well. JR: I feel like, you know, there are certain titles like The Salt Path that’s going to be in every shop in Cornwall. But actually, just having looked around and looked at the kind of local section, it's great to see some names that I've not heard of, but definitely names that I have heard of that I don't see in many places at all. HW: And we get a lot of compliments on our shelves and how unique they are and how varied they are. Just circling back to The Salt Path, we were actually the first bookshop that Raynor Wynn came into when she was going around with her proof. And James and Rachel have one of the proofs signed by Raynor. It was one of the first ones she ever handed out, and she was like, “Oh, I've never signed a book before.” But yeah… |
|
JR: Safely locked away in a vault somewhere!
HW: With all of the valuable things they've probably accrued over the years.
JR: That's amazing, though. And again that just goes to show the reputation you've got. You know, that's someone like Raynor Wynn, and even before everyone knew.
HW: Yeah, she does. They do. She and Moth kind of pop in sporadically and just say hi. And people love the anecdotes. Customers love the anecdotes about, you know, the author. “Oh, the author comes here,” and, “We know the authors, we see the authors.” And you love that.
JR: Absolutely, and I guess back up north, we've got Ann Cleeves, who does awfully well for us - back when I was with Forum. And I know, obviously, she's got the North Devon series, which will do equally well here, I'm sure.
HW: Well, they're re-jacketing the Northumberland series at the moment, aren't they?
JR: Which is nice to kind of have that anchor point for when a customer brings a book to the counter and you go, “Just wait until I tell you this.”
HW: Yeah, and they love that. It's one of the nicest parts of the job—just talking to people about books and authors.
JR: So how long have you been with the business, and can you tell us a little bit about what your role is?
HW: I've been at Edge of the World for almost exactly four years. I think the 20th of August is my four-year anniversary. So I'm kind of like an unofficial assistant manager because we don't really do official titles. We're very uncorporate here, so we don't really do official titles. But I do have a toe in everything, basically. I'm one of the more senior members here and one of the more full-time members. I also manage all of the social media platforms. I do all of the Facebook and Instagram posts and content—and just keep that kind of machine oiled -
JR: - which can be a full-time job.
HW: Yeah, exactly. And I also do a lot of the promotional material. I design all the event posters and things like that for the shop. Rachael, the shop owner, books all the events, and then it all goes onto a spreadsheet then for any promotional material and online marketing that we need to do, I schedule and plan all of that as well.
JR: I mean, you're juggling a lot there, lots of spinning plates. What do you think is the best part of your job?
HW: I still love the grassroots bookselling, you know, just recommending books to people. It's really rewarding as well when you work hard on a social media post recommending a few titles, and then people come in and ask to buy that book because they’ve seen it on socials. That’s always really rewarding.
JR: And that feels quite nicely organic, doesn’t it?
HW: Yeah, it’s lovely.
JR: You find a book that you like, you show it off, and people come in and buy it.
HW: And people actually make the effort to come into the shop and not just, "Oh, there's that title, I'm gonna quickly put it into Google." It just proves that it works. Yeah, it’s really lovely, the kind of effort you put into something.
JR: Especially something like Instagram - Twitter just seems to be a black hole at the minute - but when you know that your customers are reading it still and coming in, that's really important.
HW: And the lovely interactions you have with people and authors. Like, Rebecca Cobb is a really close friend of the shop and a personal friend of mine from the shop. She's just the loveliest human being ever, and it's a joy to do events with her or just have any kind of interaction with her, like signings and stuff, because she's just such a wonderful lady.
JR: And I've seen the window displays. That’s always exciting. You get artists in to do paintings and stuff.
HW: Yeah, there’s so much exciting stuff. There’s so much more to the job than just being on the till and, you know, zapping books and putting them in bags. That’s kind of the baseline part of the job, but the other aspects really make the role rich.
JR: Can you give us a little idea for anyone who might not have been here physically - you know, we get a good idea online, especially on Instagram, and when you showcase some of these books, it gives a hint of the shop - but could you give us a little bit of an idea of the size of the building?
HW: With all of the valuable things they've probably accrued over the years.
JR: That's amazing, though. And again that just goes to show the reputation you've got. You know, that's someone like Raynor Wynn, and even before everyone knew.
HW: Yeah, she does. They do. She and Moth kind of pop in sporadically and just say hi. And people love the anecdotes. Customers love the anecdotes about, you know, the author. “Oh, the author comes here,” and, “We know the authors, we see the authors.” And you love that.
JR: Absolutely, and I guess back up north, we've got Ann Cleeves, who does awfully well for us - back when I was with Forum. And I know, obviously, she's got the North Devon series, which will do equally well here, I'm sure.
HW: Well, they're re-jacketing the Northumberland series at the moment, aren't they?
JR: Which is nice to kind of have that anchor point for when a customer brings a book to the counter and you go, “Just wait until I tell you this.”
HW: Yeah, and they love that. It's one of the nicest parts of the job—just talking to people about books and authors.
JR: So how long have you been with the business, and can you tell us a little bit about what your role is?
HW: I've been at Edge of the World for almost exactly four years. I think the 20th of August is my four-year anniversary. So I'm kind of like an unofficial assistant manager because we don't really do official titles. We're very uncorporate here, so we don't really do official titles. But I do have a toe in everything, basically. I'm one of the more senior members here and one of the more full-time members. I also manage all of the social media platforms. I do all of the Facebook and Instagram posts and content—and just keep that kind of machine oiled -
JR: - which can be a full-time job.
HW: Yeah, exactly. And I also do a lot of the promotional material. I design all the event posters and things like that for the shop. Rachael, the shop owner, books all the events, and then it all goes onto a spreadsheet then for any promotional material and online marketing that we need to do, I schedule and plan all of that as well.
JR: I mean, you're juggling a lot there, lots of spinning plates. What do you think is the best part of your job?
HW: I still love the grassroots bookselling, you know, just recommending books to people. It's really rewarding as well when you work hard on a social media post recommending a few titles, and then people come in and ask to buy that book because they’ve seen it on socials. That’s always really rewarding.
JR: And that feels quite nicely organic, doesn’t it?
HW: Yeah, it’s lovely.
JR: You find a book that you like, you show it off, and people come in and buy it.
HW: And people actually make the effort to come into the shop and not just, "Oh, there's that title, I'm gonna quickly put it into Google." It just proves that it works. Yeah, it’s really lovely, the kind of effort you put into something.
JR: Especially something like Instagram - Twitter just seems to be a black hole at the minute - but when you know that your customers are reading it still and coming in, that's really important.
HW: And the lovely interactions you have with people and authors. Like, Rebecca Cobb is a really close friend of the shop and a personal friend of mine from the shop. She's just the loveliest human being ever, and it's a joy to do events with her or just have any kind of interaction with her, like signings and stuff, because she's just such a wonderful lady.
JR: And I've seen the window displays. That’s always exciting. You get artists in to do paintings and stuff.
HW: Yeah, there’s so much exciting stuff. There’s so much more to the job than just being on the till and, you know, zapping books and putting them in bags. That’s kind of the baseline part of the job, but the other aspects really make the role rich.
JR: Can you give us a little idea for anyone who might not have been here physically - you know, we get a good idea online, especially on Instagram, and when you showcase some of these books, it gives a hint of the shop - but could you give us a little bit of an idea of the size of the building?
|
HW: Oh goodness, yeah. So, it’s quite a big shop. It’s not ginormous, it's not on Waterstones scale or anything like that, but for an independent bookshop, it's quite large. It’s big enough so that we have multiple genre sections. The front portion of the shop is split by a dividing wall that leads around to a large rear section. In the front portion, we have a big children's section, a big cards and stationery section as you walk in by the counter, and behind the children’s section, an enormous fiction area with a new titles table and a display wall where we put books of the moment and recommendations. We also have some funky wallpaper on the walls. Then there’s a complementary corner for sci-fi, fantasy, and crime and thriller. We have a big local section just next to the counter with a large Tor Mark spinner. Tor Mark is a local publisher in Cornwall, and they produce lots of helpful guidebooks, so we’ve got a big spinner full of Tor Mark titles. We also have a section for teen and graphic novels. Then you go through to the back of the shop, and that's all non-fiction. We’ve got nature writing, travel guides, biographies, music, politics, economics, science… you name it - gardening, humour, sport, and more.
JR: Nature and travel must do quite well around here. |
|
HW: Yes, definitely!
JR: But what about your kids' and teen sections? I mean, for the vast majority of people who’ve been to Cornwall, you see how many families are in the area. But for you locals, do you have lots of families and young families coming in?
HW: We do. We have our loyal locals who will only buy their children’s books from here. The children’s section, to be honest, really comes into its own during the school holidays, and that’s when we do the most sales, especially for teens. I mean, the teen section can be a little bit quiet because it seems like teenagers either love reading or are just on their phones. There doesn’t seem to be much of a happy medium. But we do a lot of work with schools. We have schools that bring the kids in for visits, and they buy book tokens for them to choose a book. We also go out to schools to help them curate their libraries and bring them up to speed with a little more diversity. Newer books and not just written by white authors. That’s how we generate a lot of activity with children’s books, by getting involved with schools outside the school holidays.
JR: And what about your events in general? Because I know—we talked before I pressed play about the stage and having the capacity within the shop. It’s something like 40 people?
HW: Yeah, just shy of that. It’s about 36 or 37, I think, is the legal capacity for our event space. Rachel and James, the shop owners, got some funding about a year or 18 months ago to help transform the shop into more of an event space. They had to put forward a proposal about how it would benefit the community, and they got some funding. We had a stage built that separates into three sections, so we can store it in the cupboard when we’re not using it and on event nights, we roll it out and put it together like Lego. We were able to get some lighting and curtains, so now we have this whole event space that transforms in the evening.
JR: I know you've got Angela Harding coming up in September and back in June, you had Wyl Menmuir as well. I’m a huge fan of Wyl, we did an event with him up north just after yours, I think.
HW: Wyl’s definitely a really close friend of the shop. We love Wyl, and we pretty much do events for all of his books. That was maybe my fourth event with Wyl since I've been here - third or fourth. We did launch his book Foxfires at the Acorn back in the COVID days when all the chairs were separated out and everyone was in masks. Looking back at the pictures, it’s crazy.
JR: But it's just a totally different feel now. You can be far more comfortable. It's nice, but you couldn't think of getting 40 people in a bookshop back then.
HW: Oh, god forbid. It would have been terrifying. But yeah, we've got a really good foothold on local events, and we're growing all the time. We’ve gone from people just kind of knowing that we do events here to people signing up for our newsletters to hear about upcoming events and get their tickets. It’s really nice because we’ve gone from having half-sold-out events to most of our events being sold out now.
JR: Which is great—it’s just having that reliability. And being able to prove to publishers and authors that you’re actually a proper, safe pair of hands.
HW: Yeah, exactly. Give us your good, selling authors, and we’ll make it happen.
JR: With the events, then, do you do any of the interviewing? How does that work in terms of who chairs an event?
HW: It’s normally Rachael who chairs the event because she handles most of the communication and organising with booking the authors. She’s very much on top of reading all the current titles - she reads just an insane amount of books - but she doesn’t spend as much time on the shop floor because she’s doing behind-the-scenes stuff, so she tends to handle it. I have done it with Jodie Matthews, though. I interviewed Jodie Matthews with her title Meet Me at the Surface, which is a big Cornwall title that came out this year. That was really fun. I took the lead on that event because I knew Jodie before she was published from Bookstagram and followed her whole journey from starting her book to getting signed with Fourth Estate. It was amazing to watch—I’m very proud of her and happy for her.
JR: At that’ll come across in the conversation as well. Your knowledge of that journey is so important when you’re talking to an author like her.
HW: Absolutely. It was a really great event, and it was a sold-out event as well. It was a fantastic evening.
JR: So, how big is the team? Because I’ve seen online there are three or four regular faces that you see quite often, but how many staff do you have?
HW: So James and Rachael are the owners, obviously. Rachael mainly works behind the scenes, handling accounts and event bookings, so she’ll come in for cover but isn’t typically on the shop floor. James works about two days a week and handles accounts and invoicing. Our main bookselling team consists of myself, Rupert, Nikki, and our new bookseller, Charlie, who works Saturdays and provides cover. Nikki works two days a week, and Rupert and I both work four days a week.
JR: But what about your kids' and teen sections? I mean, for the vast majority of people who’ve been to Cornwall, you see how many families are in the area. But for you locals, do you have lots of families and young families coming in?
HW: We do. We have our loyal locals who will only buy their children’s books from here. The children’s section, to be honest, really comes into its own during the school holidays, and that’s when we do the most sales, especially for teens. I mean, the teen section can be a little bit quiet because it seems like teenagers either love reading or are just on their phones. There doesn’t seem to be much of a happy medium. But we do a lot of work with schools. We have schools that bring the kids in for visits, and they buy book tokens for them to choose a book. We also go out to schools to help them curate their libraries and bring them up to speed with a little more diversity. Newer books and not just written by white authors. That’s how we generate a lot of activity with children’s books, by getting involved with schools outside the school holidays.
JR: And what about your events in general? Because I know—we talked before I pressed play about the stage and having the capacity within the shop. It’s something like 40 people?
HW: Yeah, just shy of that. It’s about 36 or 37, I think, is the legal capacity for our event space. Rachel and James, the shop owners, got some funding about a year or 18 months ago to help transform the shop into more of an event space. They had to put forward a proposal about how it would benefit the community, and they got some funding. We had a stage built that separates into three sections, so we can store it in the cupboard when we’re not using it and on event nights, we roll it out and put it together like Lego. We were able to get some lighting and curtains, so now we have this whole event space that transforms in the evening.
JR: I know you've got Angela Harding coming up in September and back in June, you had Wyl Menmuir as well. I’m a huge fan of Wyl, we did an event with him up north just after yours, I think.
HW: Wyl’s definitely a really close friend of the shop. We love Wyl, and we pretty much do events for all of his books. That was maybe my fourth event with Wyl since I've been here - third or fourth. We did launch his book Foxfires at the Acorn back in the COVID days when all the chairs were separated out and everyone was in masks. Looking back at the pictures, it’s crazy.
JR: But it's just a totally different feel now. You can be far more comfortable. It's nice, but you couldn't think of getting 40 people in a bookshop back then.
HW: Oh, god forbid. It would have been terrifying. But yeah, we've got a really good foothold on local events, and we're growing all the time. We’ve gone from people just kind of knowing that we do events here to people signing up for our newsletters to hear about upcoming events and get their tickets. It’s really nice because we’ve gone from having half-sold-out events to most of our events being sold out now.
JR: Which is great—it’s just having that reliability. And being able to prove to publishers and authors that you’re actually a proper, safe pair of hands.
HW: Yeah, exactly. Give us your good, selling authors, and we’ll make it happen.
JR: With the events, then, do you do any of the interviewing? How does that work in terms of who chairs an event?
HW: It’s normally Rachael who chairs the event because she handles most of the communication and organising with booking the authors. She’s very much on top of reading all the current titles - she reads just an insane amount of books - but she doesn’t spend as much time on the shop floor because she’s doing behind-the-scenes stuff, so she tends to handle it. I have done it with Jodie Matthews, though. I interviewed Jodie Matthews with her title Meet Me at the Surface, which is a big Cornwall title that came out this year. That was really fun. I took the lead on that event because I knew Jodie before she was published from Bookstagram and followed her whole journey from starting her book to getting signed with Fourth Estate. It was amazing to watch—I’m very proud of her and happy for her.
JR: At that’ll come across in the conversation as well. Your knowledge of that journey is so important when you’re talking to an author like her.
HW: Absolutely. It was a really great event, and it was a sold-out event as well. It was a fantastic evening.
JR: So, how big is the team? Because I’ve seen online there are three or four regular faces that you see quite often, but how many staff do you have?
HW: So James and Rachael are the owners, obviously. Rachael mainly works behind the scenes, handling accounts and event bookings, so she’ll come in for cover but isn’t typically on the shop floor. James works about two days a week and handles accounts and invoicing. Our main bookselling team consists of myself, Rupert, Nikki, and our new bookseller, Charlie, who works Saturdays and provides cover. Nikki works two days a week, and Rupert and I both work four days a week.
|
JR: Cool. And in terms of shop floor bookselling and managing stock and reorders, do those jobs get divided up, or is it more your responsibility or someone else’s to keep an eye on that?
HW: It’s kind of everyone. We do sales processing every day because we get deliveries daily. We send an order every day at four o'clock. Generally, Rupert, Nikki, and I all comfortably handle the reordering, we all know what works, what doesn’t, and what to get rid of or reorder and things like that. Charlie’s still new and part-time, so she isn’t onto stock management yet. JR: Sure. It takes some time to get your eye in on things. HW: But at the same time if Charlie has a recommendation, we’ll get it in because she can hand-sell it. It’s really fluid and flexible. We don’t have a daily budget to hit or anything like that. The great thing about this shop is that it’s really fluid and everyone’s tastes and opinions, what people want to hand-sell, and what’s working well as a staff pick are all considered, alongside bestsellers and trending books. It’s a really fluid process. It’s not set in stone like having to get 20 copies of this or cut that line. |
|
JR: It’s great to not have those restrictions, but it’s also amazing that you have the trust from the owners, and just trust among the whole team, to say, “Hey, if you like it, we’ll be able to sell it.”
HW: Absolutely. Staff picks always do well. Even if it’s a book that’s 20 years old, we’ll steadily sell it because a huge part of our job is recommendations and hand-selling.
JR: Even just a quick browse in the shop, you see your shelf talkers and all the little recommendations you’ve got. Never mind the hand-selling; it’s very clear that you’ve got a personal touch within the shop.
HW: We try to keep those updated on an annual basis as well so that you don’t come in two years later and see the same staff picks. We’re all huge readers too - everyone here is completely passionate about books 24/7. We all read completely different things as well. Me and Nikki do read a lot of fantasy, but I also go off and read a lot of fiction and random genres, which is great.
JR: And the longer you’re in the business, I think, the more likely that is to happen because you decide that’s really interesting or maybe there’s a gap in your knowledge, and you want to read a few of those.
HW: Exactly, or someone randomly throws a recommendation at you, and you think, “Oh, that sounds really good.”
JR: That’s the danger of having a really good staff—everyone wants to read each other’s recommendations too.
HW: Then you end up with a huge TBR pile that you just cannot ever get a handle on, and you’re completely intimidated by the number of books you want to read all the time.
JR: And also the proofs and stuff you must get from publishers.
HW: Sometimes you just have to ignore the proofs because you’re like, “I’ve got too much to read,” and the idea of trying to keep up with all the new titles gets overwhelming. You have to become quite selective.
JR: You’ll never catch up.
HW: Exactly.
JR: And having a really strong team or a team of strong readers is great because you can rely on them to read those when you know you’re not going to.
HW: Exactly, exactly. Another good thing about being a bookseller is that you become really good at talking about books and being knowledgeable about them, even if you haven’t necessarily read them. For example, a really popular trilogy we sell here, which bridges the gap between teen and adult, is the Book of Koli series [M. R. Carey, Rampart Trilogy]. It’s exciting, fast-paced, and it’s engaging - a kind of cinematic reading, perfect for those teens who are bored with The Hunger Games but aren’t quite ready for The Handmaid’s Tale. I haven’t read that series, and neither has Rupert, but James and Nikki have. Because we’re always discussing books amongst ourselves, Rupert and I can happily hand-sell that series to people because we’re knowledgeable enough about it to know who would enjoy it.
JR: Saying, “Hey, look, I haven’t read these, but my colleagues have. Three of my colleagues have, and they loved it.” Actually, that’s almost as good - just having some kind of anchor point and saying, “Just trust us.”
HW: Yeah, and people do. Sometimes they come in asking for a book, and without even looking it up on the computer, you can say, “Yes, we have it,” walk over to the shelf, and pull it off. They’re like, “Wow, that was amazing.” Little moments like that make you feel like a super bookseller—really tuned in.
JR: If you’re here full-time or slightly more than part-time, you can go, “Actually, not only do I know where that book is, but I can point to it from here,” and then say, “Give me one minute because I know it’s here somewhere.”
HW: Definitely, like, “I’ve seen it. I’ve shelved in the past, like, six hours!”
JR: On a busy day, and I’m sure you have a lot of them, that’s really important and helps a lot.
HW: It gives people confidence that you know what you’re doing and that you’re not just a till dolly. They see that you’re a knowledgeable bookseller and that they’re in the right place to get what they need.
JR: And, you know, we talked before recording about the “supermarket effect” with books and how they become almost throwaway items when they hit supermarket shelves. You couldn’t ask any supermarket staff to recommend a book, could you? Or you couldn’t hope to, anyway.
HW: You might be able to get them to tell you where the books are in the shop, but that’s not their fault.
JR: It’s the structure of the business. They have too many other things to focus on.
HW: Exactly. And that’s not to me giving shade to supermarket staff, but...
JR: No, no, but having a smaller focus on a really good stock is far better, and that’s how you build a great reputation.
HW: There’s something about the aura of bookshops as well, the energy when you walk in. If you’re a book lover and want to choose a new book, you want the whole vibe of the experience. You want to be around other book lovers, you want the smell the books, see the recommendations, and feel like you’re among friends. It’s about being in a space with like-minded people and kindred spirits. It’s this whole space you want to inhabit and buying a new book is a whole experience.
JR: That takes me to my next question, actually. Penzance is quite a unique little place, but Cornwall in general, in terms of the bookselling landscape, you have some brilliant shops down here. Do you feel like there’s competition between bookshops? Do you reckon you all have enough distance between you? Are there any other booksellers in town you compete with more?
HW: I wouldn’t say we do. There’s another little indie in Penzance, but it’s a completely different type of stock. They mainly do secondhand art books and some new books, but not on the scale or variety that we do. It’s more of a boutique, arty bookshop, and it’s up the other end of town, so I wouldn’t consider it a competition at all. As for other bookshops in Cornwall, we have great relationships with the St. Ives, Falmouth, and Padstow Booksellers, all owned by the same person, Ron Johns. He also owns Mabecron Books, a local publisher that produces lots of Cornish children’s books, so we buy books from him. We have a great relationship with Ron and we’ve had get-togethers with the other bookshops and are friendly on socials with Jaimie at Clemo Books.
JR: Yeah, I was just going to say, you know, you’re kind of spoiled in this part of the world.
HW: We are, it’s really great. I mean, we’ve got Clemo, Falmouth, St. Ives, Padstow, and Shrew Books as well.
JR: Shrew Books, yeah.
HW: I haven’t made it over there because it’s a bit of a jump to get up to Fowey, but I’m really friendly with Kate on socials, and Ian [Russell-Hsieh] who wrote I’m New Here, is a part-time bookseller at Shrew Books as well. He’s a great friend of the shop, and we were big supporters when his book came out. So yeah, I’d say it’s a really friendly kind of community. We’re all booksellers together.
HW: Absolutely. Staff picks always do well. Even if it’s a book that’s 20 years old, we’ll steadily sell it because a huge part of our job is recommendations and hand-selling.
JR: Even just a quick browse in the shop, you see your shelf talkers and all the little recommendations you’ve got. Never mind the hand-selling; it’s very clear that you’ve got a personal touch within the shop.
HW: We try to keep those updated on an annual basis as well so that you don’t come in two years later and see the same staff picks. We’re all huge readers too - everyone here is completely passionate about books 24/7. We all read completely different things as well. Me and Nikki do read a lot of fantasy, but I also go off and read a lot of fiction and random genres, which is great.
JR: And the longer you’re in the business, I think, the more likely that is to happen because you decide that’s really interesting or maybe there’s a gap in your knowledge, and you want to read a few of those.
HW: Exactly, or someone randomly throws a recommendation at you, and you think, “Oh, that sounds really good.”
JR: That’s the danger of having a really good staff—everyone wants to read each other’s recommendations too.
HW: Then you end up with a huge TBR pile that you just cannot ever get a handle on, and you’re completely intimidated by the number of books you want to read all the time.
JR: And also the proofs and stuff you must get from publishers.
HW: Sometimes you just have to ignore the proofs because you’re like, “I’ve got too much to read,” and the idea of trying to keep up with all the new titles gets overwhelming. You have to become quite selective.
JR: You’ll never catch up.
HW: Exactly.
JR: And having a really strong team or a team of strong readers is great because you can rely on them to read those when you know you’re not going to.
HW: Exactly, exactly. Another good thing about being a bookseller is that you become really good at talking about books and being knowledgeable about them, even if you haven’t necessarily read them. For example, a really popular trilogy we sell here, which bridges the gap between teen and adult, is the Book of Koli series [M. R. Carey, Rampart Trilogy]. It’s exciting, fast-paced, and it’s engaging - a kind of cinematic reading, perfect for those teens who are bored with The Hunger Games but aren’t quite ready for The Handmaid’s Tale. I haven’t read that series, and neither has Rupert, but James and Nikki have. Because we’re always discussing books amongst ourselves, Rupert and I can happily hand-sell that series to people because we’re knowledgeable enough about it to know who would enjoy it.
JR: Saying, “Hey, look, I haven’t read these, but my colleagues have. Three of my colleagues have, and they loved it.” Actually, that’s almost as good - just having some kind of anchor point and saying, “Just trust us.”
HW: Yeah, and people do. Sometimes they come in asking for a book, and without even looking it up on the computer, you can say, “Yes, we have it,” walk over to the shelf, and pull it off. They’re like, “Wow, that was amazing.” Little moments like that make you feel like a super bookseller—really tuned in.
JR: If you’re here full-time or slightly more than part-time, you can go, “Actually, not only do I know where that book is, but I can point to it from here,” and then say, “Give me one minute because I know it’s here somewhere.”
HW: Definitely, like, “I’ve seen it. I’ve shelved in the past, like, six hours!”
JR: On a busy day, and I’m sure you have a lot of them, that’s really important and helps a lot.
HW: It gives people confidence that you know what you’re doing and that you’re not just a till dolly. They see that you’re a knowledgeable bookseller and that they’re in the right place to get what they need.
JR: And, you know, we talked before recording about the “supermarket effect” with books and how they become almost throwaway items when they hit supermarket shelves. You couldn’t ask any supermarket staff to recommend a book, could you? Or you couldn’t hope to, anyway.
HW: You might be able to get them to tell you where the books are in the shop, but that’s not their fault.
JR: It’s the structure of the business. They have too many other things to focus on.
HW: Exactly. And that’s not to me giving shade to supermarket staff, but...
JR: No, no, but having a smaller focus on a really good stock is far better, and that’s how you build a great reputation.
HW: There’s something about the aura of bookshops as well, the energy when you walk in. If you’re a book lover and want to choose a new book, you want the whole vibe of the experience. You want to be around other book lovers, you want the smell the books, see the recommendations, and feel like you’re among friends. It’s about being in a space with like-minded people and kindred spirits. It’s this whole space you want to inhabit and buying a new book is a whole experience.
JR: That takes me to my next question, actually. Penzance is quite a unique little place, but Cornwall in general, in terms of the bookselling landscape, you have some brilliant shops down here. Do you feel like there’s competition between bookshops? Do you reckon you all have enough distance between you? Are there any other booksellers in town you compete with more?
HW: I wouldn’t say we do. There’s another little indie in Penzance, but it’s a completely different type of stock. They mainly do secondhand art books and some new books, but not on the scale or variety that we do. It’s more of a boutique, arty bookshop, and it’s up the other end of town, so I wouldn’t consider it a competition at all. As for other bookshops in Cornwall, we have great relationships with the St. Ives, Falmouth, and Padstow Booksellers, all owned by the same person, Ron Johns. He also owns Mabecron Books, a local publisher that produces lots of Cornish children’s books, so we buy books from him. We have a great relationship with Ron and we’ve had get-togethers with the other bookshops and are friendly on socials with Jaimie at Clemo Books.
JR: Yeah, I was just going to say, you know, you’re kind of spoiled in this part of the world.
HW: We are, it’s really great. I mean, we’ve got Clemo, Falmouth, St. Ives, Padstow, and Shrew Books as well.
JR: Shrew Books, yeah.
HW: I haven’t made it over there because it’s a bit of a jump to get up to Fowey, but I’m really friendly with Kate on socials, and Ian [Russell-Hsieh] who wrote I’m New Here, is a part-time bookseller at Shrew Books as well. He’s a great friend of the shop, and we were big supporters when his book came out. So yeah, I’d say it’s a really friendly kind of community. We’re all booksellers together.
|
JR: I think booksellers are generally a really friendly bunch.
HW: Yeah, there’s none of that kind of animosity sort of vibe. JR: And I think when you’ve got enough space between you all, you get your own audience, don’t you? HW: Exactly, yeah. JR: Now tell me about Muddy Stilettos, because it looks as if you won Best Bookshop in Cornwall like, what, seven times in a row? HW: Yeah. We’ve won it a lot of times. I started here in 2020, and they didn’t do it that year because of obvious reasons. But then since I’ve been here, we won it in 2021, 2022, and 2023. They didn’t run it this year; they took a gap to try something else. But yeah, we won it three years in a row since I’ve been here, and I’m pretty sure we won it quite a few times before in the old premises as well. It’s all down to our lovely supporting community that loves the shop and always votes for us. It’s amazing. |
|
JR: It’s great recognition, but it also shows all the hard work you’re putting in.
HW: Exactly. We always put our customers first. Customer service is so important to all of us here. Whatever you’re doing, you stop and drop it and help a customer if they need it. That’s a big value for us, as well, is to look after our customers.
JR: I wanted to shift the focus slightly to yourself. As a reader and bookseller, what books draw you in the most? What do you enjoy reading?
HW: I’m such a random reader. The titles I come back to again and again are usually dystopian and speculative fiction. I go through phases where I really love back-to-back contemporary fiction or deep space settings, like space operas or high fantasy. A few years ago, I read nothing but fantasy because I got into Robin Hobb and read all 16 of her books. It took a year to get through all of those.
JR: It probably takes a year just to get through all those anyway!
HW: It, does, it does. And then I was in a fantasy hole for ages because her writing is such great escapism. But I will read anything. Right now, I’m in a fiction place. I just finished Trespassers by Louise Kennedy, which was on last year’s Women’s Prize shortlist. Although, I do think Barbara Kingsolver was the rightful winner, there though. I read Demon Copperhead on my honeymoon last year and it was just incredible. I’m also reading Natives by Akala at the minute and I’m also reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which has been on my TBR for way too long. It’s a proper mix. And before that, I was reading The Stand by Stephen King. I’m a complete mixed bag.
JR: So, in terms of your go-to staff picks, then. If you had to recommend three or four books right now, what would they be?
HW: Books that I’ve read or just…?
JR: Whatever your back-pocket recommendations are. The ones you know will always be on the shelf. Reliable, go-tos.
HW: Okay, so my favourite book of all time is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. She’s one of my favourite contemporary writers ever. It’s a Marmite book for people, but I always recommend it.
JR: And it’s a chunky one, as well.
HW: It’s a chunky one, but I have had great conversations about it that led to sales. I love talking about it; I read it five years ago and I still think about it all the time. It’s really proper stayed with me. I also always recommend Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. She is a complete wordsmith, and Sea of Tranquility is also one of my staff picks. I’m just in awe of what that woman can do with storytelling.
JR: I had the proofs of both of those, back in the day.
HW: Oh, you lucky thing!
JR: I hadn’t read any of her previous books before Station Eleven and was just blown away. It was like nothing else.
HW: Yeah, it’s wholly unique. I’m very excited to see what she comes out with next.
JR: And The Glass Hotel was good, but Sea of Tranquility was a step up.
HW: It’s just next level, and I love seeing that book sell. It’s one of my shelf-talkers, and we sell it quite a lot. It’s great to see it go in and out all the time. I’m also obsessed with Claire Keegan’s writing, so I’m always thrusting her books at people. And also Caris Davies’ West is just outstanding, too.
JR: Any particular titles?
HW: For Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These is just beautiful, wholesome, and important. But the one that had the deepest impact on me was So Late in the Day. It’s only about 40 pages long but tackles this sort of generational internalized misogyny in such a clever, succinct way in 40 pages. I think it’s just pure genius.
JR: You’re right; it’s less than 50 pages and it’s just so impressive.
HW: It’s ridiculous how impactful it is.
JR: Those kinds of books make me think, “This is why I don’t write.”
HW: Exactly, you’re like, “I’m just going to take a seat after that.” I’m in awe. I also love it when people ask for a fantasy book, I love getting them started on Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice. I love talking about Robin Hobb.
JR: I feel like that’s such a double-edged sword that one. It’s great to start, but then you’ve got such a journey.
HW: Of pain!
JR: Yeah, it’s like recommending the first Stephen King or the first in any series where you know, once they’re hooked, that’ll be it.
HW: And I love it when people come to the counter with, you know, the second book in the third trilogy or whatever, and I’m just like, "Oh, you’re making your way into these!" It’s exciting to see someone get into a series and then get to chat about it. We had a guy come in the other week buying the second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and pre-ordering the third one.
JR: He’s like, ‘I haven’t slept in three months!”
HW: Exactly. We always put our customers first. Customer service is so important to all of us here. Whatever you’re doing, you stop and drop it and help a customer if they need it. That’s a big value for us, as well, is to look after our customers.
JR: I wanted to shift the focus slightly to yourself. As a reader and bookseller, what books draw you in the most? What do you enjoy reading?
HW: I’m such a random reader. The titles I come back to again and again are usually dystopian and speculative fiction. I go through phases where I really love back-to-back contemporary fiction or deep space settings, like space operas or high fantasy. A few years ago, I read nothing but fantasy because I got into Robin Hobb and read all 16 of her books. It took a year to get through all of those.
JR: It probably takes a year just to get through all those anyway!
HW: It, does, it does. And then I was in a fantasy hole for ages because her writing is such great escapism. But I will read anything. Right now, I’m in a fiction place. I just finished Trespassers by Louise Kennedy, which was on last year’s Women’s Prize shortlist. Although, I do think Barbara Kingsolver was the rightful winner, there though. I read Demon Copperhead on my honeymoon last year and it was just incredible. I’m also reading Natives by Akala at the minute and I’m also reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which has been on my TBR for way too long. It’s a proper mix. And before that, I was reading The Stand by Stephen King. I’m a complete mixed bag.
JR: So, in terms of your go-to staff picks, then. If you had to recommend three or four books right now, what would they be?
HW: Books that I’ve read or just…?
JR: Whatever your back-pocket recommendations are. The ones you know will always be on the shelf. Reliable, go-tos.
HW: Okay, so my favourite book of all time is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. She’s one of my favourite contemporary writers ever. It’s a Marmite book for people, but I always recommend it.
JR: And it’s a chunky one, as well.
HW: It’s a chunky one, but I have had great conversations about it that led to sales. I love talking about it; I read it five years ago and I still think about it all the time. It’s really proper stayed with me. I also always recommend Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. She is a complete wordsmith, and Sea of Tranquility is also one of my staff picks. I’m just in awe of what that woman can do with storytelling.
JR: I had the proofs of both of those, back in the day.
HW: Oh, you lucky thing!
JR: I hadn’t read any of her previous books before Station Eleven and was just blown away. It was like nothing else.
HW: Yeah, it’s wholly unique. I’m very excited to see what she comes out with next.
JR: And The Glass Hotel was good, but Sea of Tranquility was a step up.
HW: It’s just next level, and I love seeing that book sell. It’s one of my shelf-talkers, and we sell it quite a lot. It’s great to see it go in and out all the time. I’m also obsessed with Claire Keegan’s writing, so I’m always thrusting her books at people. And also Caris Davies’ West is just outstanding, too.
JR: Any particular titles?
HW: For Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These is just beautiful, wholesome, and important. But the one that had the deepest impact on me was So Late in the Day. It’s only about 40 pages long but tackles this sort of generational internalized misogyny in such a clever, succinct way in 40 pages. I think it’s just pure genius.
JR: You’re right; it’s less than 50 pages and it’s just so impressive.
HW: It’s ridiculous how impactful it is.
JR: Those kinds of books make me think, “This is why I don’t write.”
HW: Exactly, you’re like, “I’m just going to take a seat after that.” I’m in awe. I also love it when people ask for a fantasy book, I love getting them started on Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice. I love talking about Robin Hobb.
JR: I feel like that’s such a double-edged sword that one. It’s great to start, but then you’ve got such a journey.
HW: Of pain!
JR: Yeah, it’s like recommending the first Stephen King or the first in any series where you know, once they’re hooked, that’ll be it.
HW: And I love it when people come to the counter with, you know, the second book in the third trilogy or whatever, and I’m just like, "Oh, you’re making your way into these!" It’s exciting to see someone get into a series and then get to chat about it. We had a guy come in the other week buying the second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and pre-ordering the third one.
JR: He’s like, ‘I haven’t slept in three months!”
|
HW: We had this great conversation about how those books are life-changing epics.
JR: It’s so true. There’s a time before reading those books and a time after. HW: It changes you as a person! When I finished the final Robin Hobb book, The Realm of the Elderlings, I was genuinely upset. Nothing was ever going to be like that again, and I couldn’t read any other fantasy for six months because nothing’s going to match it. JR: So what brought you back to fantasy? HW: It was Samantha Shannon and The Priory of the Orange Tree. I picked it up mainly because the cover looked great - there’s a dragon on it! I started reading and was captivated by the beautiful writing. I read her two books back-to-back, which are massive, but her writing is beautiful. That helped me get back into the fold of fantasy, and realise that it’s okay to read other authors besides Robin Hobb. There’s life after Hobb. JR: Cool. Let’s talk about the shop, not that it has a singular taste, but what seems to trend well. Are there any stand-out books that are just perennial bestsellers at Edge of the World? HW: Definitely. Well, obviously, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn is always in our top 10 bestsellers. It’s wonderful, and we’re happy to push their books because they’re such lovely people and they deserve all the sales and all the happiness. |
|
Also, Melanie Hudson, who is a local author who also writes under the name Jo Silva, has been doing phenomenally well with her cosy crime series set locally, like The Wreckers’ Curse, Death in St Ives, and Murder on a Cornish Isle. And again, she’s a lovely woman, a really lovely local lady and it’s really nice to see her books flying off the shelves.
JR: Which is great. You know, the Richard Osmans seem to have paved the way for cosy crime to make a comeback. The Golden Age crime is always there, the Christie’s and what have you, but cosy crime is really getting a modern revival.
HW: Exactly. And now we’ve got cosy sci-fi and cosy fantasy too. People just want some nice, comfortable worlds to escape into that aren’t too gritty or harsh, especially given the state of the real world.
JR: I’m a big fan of Japanese fiction, and that kind of cosy, strange Japanese stuff seems to be really popular right now. Which is just a little side-step away from that kind of cosy crime thing.
HW: We do sell a lot of those books, like the cosy Japanese fiction. Like those Cat Who Saved the Library [Sosuke Natsukawa] kinds of books, you know. What You Were Looking For Was in the Library [Michiko Aoyama] is one of our bestsellers at the moment. And anything by Soyaka Murata, anything by her, I love her books. Like Convenience Store Woman, is just a piece of genius, a piece of art, I just love it.
JR: Again, super short and it’s over almost before you really start.
HW: But it stays with you, it’s really clever.
JR: Any other forever favourites of the shop?
HW: The Mousehole Cat [Antonia Barber] is obviously one of our all-time bestsellers, all year round, and we also do really well with local children’s books like Michelle Cartlidge’s Mousehole Mice series - she illustrates and writes those, and they’re beautiful, and they’re just constantly going out the door. And Rebecca Cobb as well, of course, and Anna Wilson, her children’s books - she writes The Wide, Wide Sea - she’s local to Penzance and we sell a lot of her books as well. So, basically, local. Local is the thing that is our bestseller. We try to play that up, you know. We make sure to have lots of face-outs and well-curated local books, both children’s and adults'.
JR: And that caters to your tourist market but I’m sure a lot of you locals will be coming in for that too.
HW: Yes, definitely. You know, they buy them for their grandchildren who live up country. They want to get them some books to teach about their heritage and things like that. But also it’s supporting these local artists and authors to carry on doing what they do best. So that’s really lovely as well.
JR: What books are you most excited about coming out soon? Anything you’ve read in proof recently or something that’s coming soon that you’re really looking forward to?
HW: So I’m a big Sally Rooney fan, so I’m very excited for Intermezzo coming out in September. I’ve already pre-ordered it because I have all of Sally Rooney’s books signed on my shelf at home. As soon as I saw it, I was like, "Pre-order!"
JR: Oh, that’s been rippling through my social media too. I don’t know about yours but I must be in the Sally Rooney bubble because everyone’s shouting about it.
HW: Totally! She’s an auto-buy author for me. And I’m also quite excited about the new Tim Winton because it sounds right up my street with its dystopian vibe. From the back cover, it seems a bit like The Road, which is another favourite of mine. I have a proof, but I haven’t read it yet. I’m really looking forward to diving into it.
JR: Oh, yeah, I’m a huge Tim Winton fan.
HW: I haven’t read any of his other books yet - which I’m not sure I should admit!
JR: No, that’s great though. It’s one of those where once you’re in, you’re going to want to read them all. The Shepherd’s Hut is just one of my all-time favourites. Cloudstreet is brilliant. But yeah, there are some Winton ‘classics’ but actually, everything is good. He’s like the best thing to come out of Australia.
HW: Yeah, and him and Kristin Hannah.
JR: And what they both do really well is place and that landscape, and the heat and the dust. It just feeds into you as you’re reading those books. They’re so good.
HW: Absolutely, yes. And James and Rachael from the shop have already read the proof for Juice, the new Tim Winton title, and they both loved it. Another proof came through, so it’s sitting here, just waiting for me to get to it. Those are two books I’m especially excited about.
Oh, also the new John Gwynne book, the third in his fantasy trilogy, The Bloodsworn Saga. Which I have loved. It’s quite action-packed, it’s quite bloody, but I love Vikings - the TV series - and it’s like Vikings mixed with fantasy, and folklore.
JR: Are you more Vikings than Last Kingdom?
HW: Yes, definitely. I’m all about Vikings. I’m definitely in camp Ragnar all the way!
JR: Last question to wrap things up - any upcoming events at the bookshop that you’re excited about?
HW: Yes! We have Angela Harding coming to the shop on Friday, September 27th. She’ll be painting our window, and she’s also doing a signing. It’s a free event, so people can come in, watch her paint, chat with her, and get a signed book. We’ll have her back titles, her new book, and lots of her beautiful stationery, like foiled notebooks and bookmarks. So that’s going to be a really awesome day and just watching her do the whole thing on the window. We’re going to be very sad to clean off the window for Christmas, I tell you!
JR: Yeah, it’s like, “Can you just add something to make it a Christmas window?”
HW: Add some holly or snow to keep it festive! And in November, we’re also hosting Petroc Trelawny, his new book, Trelawny’s Cornwall, has just come out. The event will be at the Acorn, which has a 200-seat capacity. He’s quite a popular chap, so we’re expecting it to sell out. It should be a great night. Our Acorn events usually do sell out. He’ll be in conversation with a BBC editor who has connections to Cornwall, discussing the book and what it means to be Cornish.
JR: Which is great. You know, the Richard Osmans seem to have paved the way for cosy crime to make a comeback. The Golden Age crime is always there, the Christie’s and what have you, but cosy crime is really getting a modern revival.
HW: Exactly. And now we’ve got cosy sci-fi and cosy fantasy too. People just want some nice, comfortable worlds to escape into that aren’t too gritty or harsh, especially given the state of the real world.
JR: I’m a big fan of Japanese fiction, and that kind of cosy, strange Japanese stuff seems to be really popular right now. Which is just a little side-step away from that kind of cosy crime thing.
HW: We do sell a lot of those books, like the cosy Japanese fiction. Like those Cat Who Saved the Library [Sosuke Natsukawa] kinds of books, you know. What You Were Looking For Was in the Library [Michiko Aoyama] is one of our bestsellers at the moment. And anything by Soyaka Murata, anything by her, I love her books. Like Convenience Store Woman, is just a piece of genius, a piece of art, I just love it.
JR: Again, super short and it’s over almost before you really start.
HW: But it stays with you, it’s really clever.
JR: Any other forever favourites of the shop?
HW: The Mousehole Cat [Antonia Barber] is obviously one of our all-time bestsellers, all year round, and we also do really well with local children’s books like Michelle Cartlidge’s Mousehole Mice series - she illustrates and writes those, and they’re beautiful, and they’re just constantly going out the door. And Rebecca Cobb as well, of course, and Anna Wilson, her children’s books - she writes The Wide, Wide Sea - she’s local to Penzance and we sell a lot of her books as well. So, basically, local. Local is the thing that is our bestseller. We try to play that up, you know. We make sure to have lots of face-outs and well-curated local books, both children’s and adults'.
JR: And that caters to your tourist market but I’m sure a lot of you locals will be coming in for that too.
HW: Yes, definitely. You know, they buy them for their grandchildren who live up country. They want to get them some books to teach about their heritage and things like that. But also it’s supporting these local artists and authors to carry on doing what they do best. So that’s really lovely as well.
JR: What books are you most excited about coming out soon? Anything you’ve read in proof recently or something that’s coming soon that you’re really looking forward to?
HW: So I’m a big Sally Rooney fan, so I’m very excited for Intermezzo coming out in September. I’ve already pre-ordered it because I have all of Sally Rooney’s books signed on my shelf at home. As soon as I saw it, I was like, "Pre-order!"
JR: Oh, that’s been rippling through my social media too. I don’t know about yours but I must be in the Sally Rooney bubble because everyone’s shouting about it.
HW: Totally! She’s an auto-buy author for me. And I’m also quite excited about the new Tim Winton because it sounds right up my street with its dystopian vibe. From the back cover, it seems a bit like The Road, which is another favourite of mine. I have a proof, but I haven’t read it yet. I’m really looking forward to diving into it.
JR: Oh, yeah, I’m a huge Tim Winton fan.
HW: I haven’t read any of his other books yet - which I’m not sure I should admit!
JR: No, that’s great though. It’s one of those where once you’re in, you’re going to want to read them all. The Shepherd’s Hut is just one of my all-time favourites. Cloudstreet is brilliant. But yeah, there are some Winton ‘classics’ but actually, everything is good. He’s like the best thing to come out of Australia.
HW: Yeah, and him and Kristin Hannah.
JR: And what they both do really well is place and that landscape, and the heat and the dust. It just feeds into you as you’re reading those books. They’re so good.
HW: Absolutely, yes. And James and Rachael from the shop have already read the proof for Juice, the new Tim Winton title, and they both loved it. Another proof came through, so it’s sitting here, just waiting for me to get to it. Those are two books I’m especially excited about.
Oh, also the new John Gwynne book, the third in his fantasy trilogy, The Bloodsworn Saga. Which I have loved. It’s quite action-packed, it’s quite bloody, but I love Vikings - the TV series - and it’s like Vikings mixed with fantasy, and folklore.
JR: Are you more Vikings than Last Kingdom?
HW: Yes, definitely. I’m all about Vikings. I’m definitely in camp Ragnar all the way!
JR: Last question to wrap things up - any upcoming events at the bookshop that you’re excited about?
HW: Yes! We have Angela Harding coming to the shop on Friday, September 27th. She’ll be painting our window, and she’s also doing a signing. It’s a free event, so people can come in, watch her paint, chat with her, and get a signed book. We’ll have her back titles, her new book, and lots of her beautiful stationery, like foiled notebooks and bookmarks. So that’s going to be a really awesome day and just watching her do the whole thing on the window. We’re going to be very sad to clean off the window for Christmas, I tell you!
JR: Yeah, it’s like, “Can you just add something to make it a Christmas window?”
HW: Add some holly or snow to keep it festive! And in November, we’re also hosting Petroc Trelawny, his new book, Trelawny’s Cornwall, has just come out. The event will be at the Acorn, which has a 200-seat capacity. He’s quite a popular chap, so we’re expecting it to sell out. It should be a great night. Our Acorn events usually do sell out. He’ll be in conversation with a BBC editor who has connections to Cornwall, discussing the book and what it means to be Cornish.
|
We're big fans of what Helen, Rachael, James and the team at Edge of the World do for their community and the hoards of tourist that pay them a visit each year. Please ensure you make a visit online or in person the very next chance you get. Head to their website for author events, staff picks and more.
And look our for Helen's own recommendations and general brilliant book chat over on her own page - @books_by_the_sea |
